Student Responsibilities in Online Classes

1. Make sure that you meet the computer competencies.

2. Within the 1^st week of classes starting, e-mail your instructor with your full name, social security number, course taking, e-mail address, and the type of word processing software you have.

3. Print a hardcopy of contact information and assignments. It is possible during the semester that the BlackBoard server may go down. In preparation for this you should have a hardcopy of how to contact your instructor and a schedule of assignments. Many times you will be expected to continue with the course assignments during server problems. So be prepared! It is very important that the information you send is correct. If your e-mail or contact information changes during the semester it is your responsibility to notify the instructor.

4. Check the course site regularly. Even if you don’t have specific assignments to complete, check the course site and your e-mail regularly. Your instructor will make announcements, new postings will appear in discussion forums, and other plans may undergo subtle changes. Regular checks will help you remember all that you need to get done.

5. Plan on spending at least two hours of work time for every credit hour that the course receives. As a general rule of thumb, a course assumes that you will attend for as many hours are listed in the credit hours, then do homework and prepare in an equivalent number of hours during each week. In an online course, the distinction between attendance and study hours is removed, but the same amount of time is necessary. This is a minimum amount of time. In actual practice, many courses will take many more hours of study.

6. Your instructor can tell if you are visiting the course site. There are tools in Blackboard Course Info that allows your instructor to get general statistics about how often you visit the course site and what areas you visit.

7. You will have to show your instructor the quality of your participation. Statistical tools in Blackboard won’t let your instructor know if you understand what you read, if you enjoy or dislike aspects of the course, or if you are succeeding as a student. That is up to you. Your assignments, postings, and instructor communication will show the quality of your work and how well you understand.

8. You are expected to communicate with both the instructor and your classmates. Don’t wait to be asked to communicate. Send your instructor questions. Post messages to other students. Ask questions and share your ideas.

9. Let your instructor know if you will be away. Just as if you were not going to attend a face-to-face course, you should let your instructor know if you will not be accessing the online course for several days. Your instructor can remind you of deadlines you might miss or announcements or changes that might occur in the course while you are gone. They will understand why you don’t participate in interactive parts of the course or log any hits on the course site. Most online instructors understand that those who take online courses need time flexibility, and may offer you alternatives to activities that you may need to miss.